Racial disparities remain in the number
of HIV/AIDS diagnoses in the United States, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention says. Overall rates of HIV/AIDS diagnoses in the
U.S. stayed steady for 2000-2003, but the rate of HIV/AIDS diagnoses
for non-Hispanic African Americans was higher than among other racial
and ethnic groups. African-American women made up 69 per cent of female
HIV diagnoses during 2000-2003. The rate of HIV/AIDS diagnoses among
African American females in 2003 was more than 18 times higher than
that of white women and nearly five times higher than among Latina
women. "The number of women of color in the United States that continue
to be affected by this devastating disease is quite sobering," said
Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. Thompson, who will soon
step down from his post after four years, in a press statement. In the
32 states that conducted confidential, name-based reporting from
2000-2003, 125,800 people were reported to have been diagnosed with
HIV/AIDS. More than half of these diagnoses were among African
Americans, though they make up only 13 per cent of the population.
Latinos made up 15 per cent of the diagnoses, Asians/Pacific Islanders
and American Indians accounted for 1 per cent of the diagnoses and 32
per cent of the diagnoses were among whites. Men of color were also
disproportionately represented among rates of new HIV diagnoses. In
2003, the highest rate of HIV/AIDS diagnosis was among African-American
males, which was almost seven times that of white men. During
2000-2003, men who have sex with men continued to account for the
largest proportion of diagnoses. [more]
Black AIDS Institute Releases 'State of AIDS in Black America' Report [more]